Testimony ended in the Aliso Viejo parking lot-rage case yesterday. Closings are Monday. Prosecutor Scott Simmons spent about an hour working over the defendant, Morteza Bakhtiari. He scored no obvious knockout blows, but you never know the cumulative effect of all that pummeling on the jury.

Simmons had left off Wednesday as he was getting to Bakhtiari's state of mind after John Royston had thrown a soda in his face and (supposedly) caused him to hit a parked car but before Bakhtiari's BMW hit Royston. I didn't hear any testimony about the length of time that elapsed, but it was long enough for Bakhtiari to drive a few hundred feet, turn around and drive back toward Royston.

Bakhtiari testified Wednesday that he went back to get identification of some kind from the three to five men who'd been shouting at him, that some of them charged his car and he accidentally hit Royston. Simmons yesterday hit him with repeated questions about whether his real intent was to "mess them up," whether he was going back to "give them a little action." All in that withering, bordering-on-contempt tone attorneys use with witnesses they're trying to break and/or get jurors to doubt. Periodically, he'd sneer sarcastically at one of Bakhtiari's many denials: "Because you'd never do that, would you?"

Simmons also went back through the false stolen car report Bakhtiari admits making the next day, pointing out how detailed some of his lies were. Such as that he'd spent the night with a "disgusting" woman who had three or four kids and that the two had watched "Bruce Almighty" on video and drank vodka-and-Sevens. (Actually, throw in a couple of Hot Pockets and that sounds like my dream date.) Simmons made sure he repeated the "disgusting" quote a few times for the benefit of the six women on the jury.

I've got a long-planned vacation next week, so I won't be around to see what could be Joe Cavallo's last closing. But I was thankful I got to see a nearly verbatim replay this week of the classic exchanges between Cavallo and Judge F. P. Briseño that marked the Haidl trials. On Wednesday, Cavallo asked a detective three straight questions he hoped would elicit a response that would show a key prosecution witness had smoked pot habitually before the date of the accident. Briseño had already ruled this area off limits, but Cavallo pressed. Three times, Simmons objected and three times Briseño sustained. Finally, Cavallo muttered, "I'll let the jurors use their common sense."

If Briseño was ever going to blow, it would have been then. But he calmly said something about requiring "proper conduct on the part of counsel." That was all jurors heard. Moments later, Briseño sent them out of the room and told Cavallo what a skilled lawyer he was and therefore, "I'm coming to the conclusion that (was) a calculated statement." I mean, that is almost exactly what he told Cavallo about his tactics in Haidl II. This time, however, Cavallo copped to it and said, "It was calculated. … I take responsibility for that." Briseño let him off with a warning. Say what you will about his style and the little dustups we had, but I'll also remember Joe for how hard he fought for his clients.

Then yesterday, Bakhtiari took a page from the Cavallo playbook. Briseño ruled earlier the defense could not bring up the purported fact that Bakhtiari had saved the lives of two people. But during cross, when Simmons came at him with one of his sarcastic, "But you would never do that?" questions about purposely running down Royston, Bakhtiari replied: "Never. … I have saved two lives in my past." Briseño again sent the jury out and lectured the defendant for a good 10 minutes. But as they say, you can't unring the bell.

If it's Friday, we must have "Housewives." Got a call from Derek the Vending Machine Guy, who gave Josh Waring a job and a company vehicle when Lauri threw him out of the house. Derek was in court in San Diego yesterday when the auto-theft charges against Josh were dropped. Josh sat in jail for a few weeks until Derek bailed him out. Josh's story is that some guys he met while drinking in Mexico got him to drive a car across the border and he stupidly agreed. He was arrested after crossing over. … Jeana Keough called to say a rumor was circulating that my son, " Elias," was involved in a fight at Tesoro High. Not having a son at Tesoro, or even a son, I was surprised to hear that. But thanks for the heads up.

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